BIO:  James Joel CARPENTER, Native of Ephrata Township, Lancaster Co., PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
Bill Walters wdwalte@aol.com August 5, 2007, 6:06 pm

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lancaster/
_______________________________________________

Author: Bill Walters

James Joel Carpenter was born in Ephrata Township, Lancaster County, 
Pennsylvania. He was fourth child and second son millwright Giles Carpenter 
(1800-1857) and Jane McClintock (1809-1879). His paternal grandfather was Joel 
Carpenter of the well-known Carpenter/Zimmrerman family of Lancaster County. 
After his father's death James lived briefly in Lancaster County with his 
sister Belinda (1840-after 1903) and her husband Amos Sellers. James Joel 
Carpenter then married Hettie (or Hatty) Barton and wandered the country 
buying, selling, and slaughtering livestock. For a time James lived in 
Cincinnati. The couple had one son James Barton Carpenter. James Joel Carpenter 
lost his sight and eventually settled in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. Here he made 
a living by selling eggs and slaughtering chickens which were purchased for him 
by his son James and others. On December 1893, while working in a wooden shed 
behind his house, he was viscously beaten with a wooden club and his throat was 
slit by his son James Barton Carpenter. James Joel's body was placed on a sled 
belonging to a neighbor boy and was carried to Juniata Creek where it was 
dumped. A trail of blood and bits of clothing lead back to the shed. The son 
was found in with his father's watch. The son was convicted of the crime. James 
Barton Carpenter at first denied knowledge of the murder, but ten minutes 
before he was due to be hanged confessed to the crime. The execution took place 
in June 1894 in Miffintown. Evidence was produced that James Barton Carpenter 
and Hettie Barton had frequently discussed how a body could be placed in a 
river and never found and Hettie was sent to jail for two years for her role in 
her husband's murder.


Sources:

Federal Census, Lancaster County 1850 (under Giles Carpenter) p.184, 1860 (under 
Amos Sellers).Seymour D. Carpenter, Genealogical Notes on the Carpenter Family 
(Springfield: Illinois State Journal, 1907)  Printed Letter from J. Barton 
Carpenter “Dear Aunt.” Professing innocence and asking for mercy, Mifflintown, 
Pennsylvania 11 June 1894, copy fro the family of Amanda Carpenter Weaver. 
Details on the background and murder of James Carpenter see: The Sentinel & 
Republic, Mifflintown PA, “Foul Murder” 13 Dec. 1893; “Foul Murder” 20 Dec. 
1893, The Middleburg Post, Middleburg, PA “Murder at Port Royal” 14 Dec. 1893, 
p.3; Juniata Tribune, 14 Dec. 1893 p.1; “Juniata County Murder;” The Newport 
News, Newport, PA, “The wife and Son of James S. [sic] Carpenter Held in His 
Murder,” 22 Dec. 1893, p.1; 15 Dec. 1893, “Murder at Port Royal; Democrat and 
Register, Mifflintown, PA.,p.3. “An Atrocious Crime,” 13 Dec. 1893.
Port Royal Times, 25 May 1894 (Hangman and testing of scaffold) 22 June 1894
(Hanging and J. Barton Carpenter's confession to murder); 29 June 1894
(the estate), 22 March 1895 (Hettie Carpenter).